March 4, 2008

In my last post, I classified different forms of alternative therapy into two main categories. While you familiarize yourself with information on these subjects, its always great to understand it at its core without spending too much time. In the early stages of spiritual learning, we usually delve into many practices associated with ancient ritualistic or Shamanic beliefs. A lot many claim the powers of gemstones, sun catchers, smudging with dried sage, etc, due to their ancient spiritual connect. Even though these concepts diminished in the past, it has now regained its spot in the holistic market place. There is a good reason for why they believe it works.

~’they believe’~

Belief is the only ingredient common in all therapies. If you believe that it will work, it will. However, over time, it makes sense to believe in the ultimate life force; the consciousness behind any therapeutic belief: ‘Yourself’; i.e. your true inner self. Some holistic healers may deny this but the secret really is that these therapies only work when ‘you’ believe it.

~reality check on different forms of therapy~

As you make your way through understanding holistic forms of therapy from various people and sources, it will be like walking into an auto mall. Every car is the best car and every car salesman wants you to have it. Like always, what matters is how you feel when you drive it. The only way to know this is to either try them all or stick with what resonates with yourself and your daily life style. If you like music, then its easy to point out that sound therapy will work well for you. All these forms of alternative therapy concentrate on healing using the non physical energy system – your emotions.

~synopsis of each therapy~
(in alphabetical order – use CTRL-F to quickly find topics)

In the last post I classified the different forms of therapy. Here is a quick run down with its core essence laid out.
Thumb Rule:a. Anything that helps de-stress and soothe the mind is considered therapeutic.
b. There is a fine line between therapeutic use and addiction. Addiction issues when recognized can be resolved using these forms of therapy as well.

AcuEnergetics:
Same as Chakra Therapy in a nutshell. Its also known as Harmonics Energy Balance. Therapists use a concepts in Chakra therapy to heal. The basic principles are the same but with a different name. Read on Chakra Therapy in this post.

Acupressure:
In the first part I mentioned that our astral / emotional body is attached to our physical body at various points along its length. These points have various names as chakras, pressure points, vortexes, psychic centers, meridians, energy centers, etc. Acupressure is associated with applying physical pressure to these points and transferring emotional energy, chi or prana through fingers unblocking the blocked chakra. Hands are considered healing agents in every form of physical contact therapy. Pressure points are gateways that channel healing energies to the main chakras. You would need to understand the concept of chakras before this entirely makes sense. Try this link healing.about.com for some basic clarity on chakras.

Acupuncture:
This is very similar to acupressure; the only difference being the use of pricks via pins or needles at the same points. This is also called Meridian Healing. Medicine.net has a great FAQ on this subject.

Aromatherapy:
Its the therapy where the use of scents from essential oils are used to heal certain common ailments. This educational site offers some great information on some more basics and is worth a quick glance.

Astral Projection:
Healing through Astral Projection or Astral Travel usually works by just understanding the experience of the non physical universe. The other term for it is ‘Out of body experience’ or soul travel. This is the phenomenon of your soul or mind leaving your body. Some use Astral Projection to perform a Past Life Memory investigation which can be very healing. It helps to understand how one may suffer certain trying disorders in spite of medication. For the most part, it helps with building confidence in the greater purpose of life and karma.

Auric Healing (Aura Healing):
Auras are created by the energies from each chakra. The strength of an aura reflects the emotional IQ of the person. Better the Aura, better the E-IQ. The basic principles for healing are the same as Chakra Therapy. Read on Chakra Therapy in this post.

Chakra Therapy (Chakra Balancing):
If you have read about chakras from part 1 of this post, you would understand that the mental or astral body has 7 chakras along the length of a person’s physical body. Each of these 7 points are associated with emotional and physiological illness that represents a physical organ or gland. Before a physical illness appears, an emotional illness is considered to be the cause of the fall in bodily defenses. Chakra therapy is the foundation of every other therapy. Further information can be found from the combination of both these sites Astral Mate & The School of Tantra. On a another note, there is a correlation between Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and The Chakra System (highlighted by Norwick Gray).

Cognitive Therapy:
Also called Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, the focal point is tuning emotions and hence the outcome of thoughts. The targeted outcome is to change the way we think. Most therapists use this method to help clients empower themselves to solve their emotional issues. It goes by many names: Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy, Rational Behavior Therapy, Rational Living Therapy, Cognitive Therapy and Dialectic Behavior Therapy. The National Association of Cognitive Behavioral Therapists have a quick read on this subject. This form of therapy does not specifically aim at resolving physical illness.

Color Therapy:
The same as chakra therapy but using colors to heal. Certain colors tend to magnify certain emotions or the lack of it. By understanding the need for certain colors you understand personal issues that one faces and its physical consequence. Gemstones therapy is a subset of color therapy and color therapy is a subset of chakra therapy. For example, if your favorite color is blue, it indicates that you might have issues speaking up or being open and frank with people. Here’s a link to a chart in Chakra Therapy; each color representing physical ailments and emotional symptoms. Please refer to Chakra Therapy in this post for additional info.

Crystal Healing:
Read on Gemstone Therapy in this post.

Energy Balancing:
Read up on Chakra Therapy. Its the same base concept.

Exorcism:
Please read up on Spirit Releasement Therapy in this post.

Expressive Therapy:
A form of therapy that is targeted to clear blockages in the 5th or throat chakra. The 5th chakra represents innermost creative expression. Expression can occur in any creative form; through writing, dance, vocals, music, painting, craft, sculpting, architecting, etc. The Wikipedia has great examples on this subject.

Food Therapy:
A process using healing properties of various natural foods to cure ailments. I dug out this site (natali.co.uk) that has an illness to food matches.

Gemstone Therapy:
The concept of gemstone therapy arises from the theory of color therapy. Color therapy in turn associates its roots from Chakra therapy. This article clearly describes the roots of Gemstone Therapy. However, these forms of therapy creates dependencies on external objects; its best to resolve emotional issues associated with each unbalanced chakra to completely balance self.

Guided Imagery
Have you heard of a therapist who asks you to imagine lying on a beach. And from there on, he or she tells you to imagine a further sequence of steps as narrated by him/her? This is guided imagery. Visualizations that use the imagination to heal both mind and body. It boils down to restoring balance in every chakra using the third eye or 6th chakra (ajna). Since the obvious form of modality here is using the mind to heal, it brings focus to Chakra therapy as the base foundation for identifying symptoms, emotional causes and implementing fixes. Eupsychia has some good information on definitions and how-to.

Harmonics Energy Balancing:
Read up on Chakra Therapy. Its the same base concept.

Hecatean Projection
A type of astral projection where one gets projected into a negative emotional area made of fear, hate, jealousy, anger and other remaining deadly sins. It is definitely not therapeutic. Read up on astral projection for more information on how projections can be therapeutic.

Energy Healing with Chi, Ruah, Prana:
Chi, Ruah or Prana refer to the same energy: ’emotions’. Since Chakra therapy is about healing using emotions, please refer to chakra therapy for details.

Herbal Therapy:
The use of twigs, leaves, flowers or the entire plant to create healing teas, soups, powders or just skin patches. Ancient Ayurvedic Medicine from India and Herbology in witchcraft are such forms of herbal therapy. Herb to disease matching can be found here (herbsandcures.com).

Homeopathy:
Just like the other forms of therapy, this form of therapy is targeted at the same emotional energy system in the body. The National Center for Complimentary Medicine has explained this concept pretty well. Homeopaths use the concept of ‘like attracts like’, which is the ‘Law of Attraction’.

Hypnotherapy:
Using hypnosis to heal mental and physical conditions. While most sites explain it as using alternate states of your consciousness to heal, these consciousness could be your own, or your Higher Self (spirit guides / guardian angels), or vampiric consciousness that linger from a previous incarnation. New age movements see this as your past consciousness (egos) or other vampiric consciousness creating blockages against self healing. By engaging these consciousnesses and walking through causations of their own emotional blockages, the emotional block in the client clears. As per chakra therapy, these forms of emotional blockages cause physical illnesses; and by clearing these, physical balance is eventually restored.

Landscape Therapy:
Watching natural serenity in pictures, photo slides or in person can have a very soothing effect on your mind. A combination of the sounds of nature, its panaromic views and the natural smell of the earth does relax one’s mind. This is achieved through slide shows as well. That’s all that this form of therapy is – a relaxation technique engaging the visual senses through color combinations and visualizations.

Light Body Activation:
Same as Chakra Therapy in a nutshell. For more details on how this therapy is practiced, read up on an article by Laughing Life coach and Merkaba.

Massage Therapy:
Any form of physical contact therapy aimed at relaxation through overall body massage falls under this category. The names & techniques are aplenty. A consolidated list can be obtained here at Wikipedia.

NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming):
Mostly used in Professional and Self success management, this self empowerment technique is a very high level and neutral form of therapy used to perform self analysis and self rectification. This is best for skeptics who do not wish to engage in understanding spiritual therapy as the core of every alternative therapy. This form of therapy is not designed to heal physical illnesses either. The best source for NLP info is NLP.com. However, if you have faced a road block after using NLP, I suggest investigating the spiritual aspects that form the core of this training.

Past Life Regression Healing (PLR):
This is hypnosis on ‘steroids’ (without the use of any steroids of course). If you haven’t familiarized yourself with the concepts of hypnotherapy in this post, please do before moving forward. PLR is consciously knowing that you have lived in previous lives hence using hypnosis or trance to go back into those lifetimes. The healing effect comes into play when one understands his or her karmic debts from a past life. Past life negative karma’s can cause emotional blockages in any or many of the 7 chakras. By understanding and overcoming these emotional blockages, one can heal the physical and mental self. A clear and simple read can be found here. The site HealPastlives.com is considered to be one of the best sites detailing Past Life Regression Healing.

Pranic Healing:
Read up on Chakra Therapy. Its the same base concept.

Physical Fitness Form of Therapy:
A therapy involving Endorphin release through cardiovascular exercises. It may be assisted with weight training. I personally use the site exrx.net to learn and plan my routine.

Shamanic Healing (Shamans):
Healing through the knowledge of the village medicine men or tribal witch doctors. They use a variety of healing methods that include herbal therapy, soul retrieval (past life regression healing), gemstone therapy (color therapy using gemstones), exorcism (using hypnotherapy) and spirit assistance (assisting consciousness in the afterlife). In the true meaning of the word ‘shamans’, alternative therapists are shamans as well. Its just a broad term encompassing various forms of therapy.

Sound Therapy (Mantra Therapy):
This form of therapy is closely tied to Chakra Therapy where the 7 musical notes (or mantras or chanting) assist in healing various ailments. Try this site (elivia.com) for detailed information and downloadable music notes. On another note, any sound or music that puts your mind at ease comes under this form of therapy. Most musical tunes have all 7 notes. You don’t really need to buy any expensive relaxation CD that claims wonders. Other forms of sound therapy are listed here (biowaves.com). It also include binaural beats from Monroe’s Institute of Hemisync Research.

Soul Retrieval:
It is healing using Past Life Regression. Please read on PLR in this post. A great note on soul retrieval by another author can be found here.

Spirit Releasement Therapy (Spirit Intrusion):
Also known as exorcism, this therapy involves identifying spirit consciousnesses that affect your current life. Known mental illnesses associated with these are schizophrenia, personality or identity disorders. The intruding spirits are identified and confronted through hypnotherapy aided with concepts in past life regression. Shamanic healers or past life regressionists are known for healing this. I’ve had fairly good success with the help of psychics as well; although the information was a bit obscure and left for interpretation. With two schizophrenics in my family, I took my wife’s psychic help to identify the intruding spirits causing them pain.
The spirits that linger around are dissatisfied emotional remains of physical people from your previous lives or in some extreme cases ‘wandering spirits’ that may not be related directly to you. Wandering spirits are easier to release and this can be termed as spirit assistance ( I wrote about spirit assistance in one of my posts here.) However, releasing spirits from your past lives require a little more work; work mostly on your part. These spirits are normally upset with you for a reason unknown to you in this lifetime; past life regression gives great insight on this reason. In most cases, these spirits are past life egos of your own consciousness itself; i.e. unsatisfied version(s) of your previous life. Schizophrenics are one example of this. Their unsatisfied spirit of a previous life constantly intrude and try to quickly resolve what has remained as unfinished business before they had physically died then. In all cases they use negative ways to achieve this; these include hate, anger, pride, self denial, greed, jealousy or any form of an insecure belief. Then there are those affected with personality disorders like MPD or DID. These folks are usually involuntary spirit mediums who host other consciousness in their physical body without control or knowledge. The only way to release these spirits in these cases requires complete the karmic debt payback. The time frame can be as long as paying back house loan payments. Hang in there and seek help from past life regression hypnotherapists on what you may have done in your last life to undergo this pain.

Talk Therapy:
It is just talking about your emotional issues. Please read up on Cognitive Therapy in this post. The definitions vary at various sites but if you look at all of it closely, you will find the commonality.

Taste Therapy:
Therapy through taste has not yet been researched to a great extent. As stated, there are 6 tastes: sweet, bitter, sour, astringent, spicy hot & salty; this page talks about taste therapy and its association with healing.

Tantric Sex:
Sex in general is the most commonly played sport among humans. I hope we all agree that in the mammal world alone, it is the common form of ‘physical’ evolution (excluding artificial means). Fortunately, sex assists in mental evolution as well. Tantric sex is exactly what this is all about; mental / spiritual evolution through sex (i.e. maturity through sex). During a tantric orgasm, emotional energy or chi / prana flows up your spine inducing a fulfilling effect; which is why some have chills right after or during orgasms. As the chi rises, it clears blockages in all chakras having a healing effect. It is a self transforming process with the aim to finally achieve the art of making love in its purest form. The sole intent evolves into pleasing the other by attending to their every sexual and emotional desire. At every age, tantric sex heals, vitalizes and rejuvenates mind and body. Discovery Health has a good 5 page article on techniques and effects. I highly recommend this read.

Therapeutic Imagery:
Same a Guided Imagery listed in this post.

Touch Therapy:
This is the same as Massage Therapy listed in this post.

Visualization:
Its the same as Guided Imagery listed on this post.

Yoga (Hatha Yoga exercise):
The ancient Indian forms of physical exercise with poses targeted to heal specific illnesses. This site(Truthstar.com/yoga) has some great information on specific exercises/poses to heal specific physical problems.

~Final Note~

The only road to the ultimate higher purpose and potential is to understand how you are associated with Unconditional Love; the ultimate nirvana. Here’s one instance on how to practice Unconditional Love. All forms of alternative therapy assist in sustaining self at peak performance while attempting to attain this new height.

February 14, 2008

In 2006, I wanted to know all about these methods of spiritual healing. I didn’t know where to start and even though every text I read was helpful, I was a bit confused with the mass amounts of information on this subject. Over the past year, I put the pieces together and found out that a lot many of these have the same meaning. I finally realized that just like we have many cultures in many countries, we have many words for the same concepts. I will try to make sure that this read clarifies terms while you embark on your spiritual journey.

~a quick note on Skeptics & Quackery~

Skeptics call these methods “quackery”; they haven’t understood it in its entirety and insist proving spiritual existence using physical means. Laws of Physics are clear, we cannot physically touch an apple we create in our mind; but; we have a mind. Spiritual healing uses the mind and involves understanding it and its emotional properties. Its healing the mind first to eventually heal the body.

These are all synonyms for the same non physical energy commonly known as positive emotions: i.e. love in the form of compassion, generosity, humility, empathy, kindness and patience; love with absolutely no expectations, no boundaries and no preset limit. There may be more synonyms that I may have missed but its pretty much the same thing. These energies are generated by the soul or what we know of as a “happy satisfied mind”. Spirit Guardians, Spirit healers or Guardian Angels are one such example of non physical sources. When we perform healing, we are basically transferring all our positive energies onto our target person using thoughts of emotions mentioned above. These emotions have an effect on the target consciousness (i.e. person) by way of relief, mental peace, restoration of emotional balance and harmony. There are plenty of sites on-line that can help with ‘how to’ on performing it. Techniques on various sites will vary just as french fries at different fast foods. What matters is what works best for you.

What are dark energy, energy vampires, emotional baggages,

psychic vampires, telepathic draining? – a sympathetic view

Apart from the fact that these are all synonyms, this negative energy is sourced within less evolved minds who constantly remain dissatisfied. They can be physical people or dissatisfied ghosts (or disembodied spirits). They seek stability & satisfaction from emotionally unbalanced relationships or materialistic pleasures. Most barely realize the impact this dependency has on their own well being. A large part of the human population falls under this category. They have more of a vacuum effect with other’s energies without realizing it. If you are a target, you would have felt being drained mentally and physically around these people or in relationships having such emotional baggage. While they mean no harm consciously, they need to learn that positive energy comes from within self. They need to stop depending on outside sources for temporary happiness and focus on growing permanent inner strength.

A friend of mine constantly depended on me to help her out with certain chores. She wouldn’t say anything much but I would end up doing it for her while I was around her. It was obvious that she would think it; I would pick up the signal and being the good friend I was, I would do it. I avoid being around her too often only to let myself not be taken advantage of through psychic means.

Note that some folk’s karma is to convert negative minds into positive life forces either by helping them heal themselves or exactly the opposite. Helping is a tough task, every situation differs and requires decisions on instinct. Even a divorce in a draining relationship is sometimes ‘helping’. The universe is sometimes cruel only to be kind. Read more on this subject @ Dr Bruce Goldberg’s site or Oprah.

~What are Chakras? Is it related to acupuncture, Reiki, Yoga,

acupressure or meridian healing?~

The mind is 100% emotional (logic is also an emotion) and our minds come with a physical body, the physical body and mind (also called the astral body) are attached at various points along its length. There are 7 major points of attachment known as chakras (wheels in sanskrit), while the rest are minor points or mini chakras. In acupuncture/acupressure, these are known as pressure points or meridians. We know these exist because we feel pain or tingling sensations at these points when aggravated. On a psychological forefront, these points represent various forms of emotional issues (personal insecurities). Ancient Indian, Chinese and Japanese research have stated that physiological problems and diseases are first sighted as emotional issues and visible in your Aura. If emotional issues remain unresolved, they manifest into the physical form in terms of illnesses. Just like us, even ghosts or spirits feel too. They suffer from the same types of emotional problems and seek the same level of healing or satisfaction as we do. Reiki healing is conceptually the same as a combination of Chakra therapy and Yoga. I’ve listed out some common denominations within this area of healing in the second part.

Once again ancient Indian & Chinese research have found ways to maintain emotional & physical states of a person at optimal levels by planning or adjusting a living environment. These are classified under the art of Feng Shui and Vastu Shastra. Its best not to read into these text too literally. It is meant to mean that there is more than one correct way of doing it once a base foundation is setup. Everyone is different and we all have our own preferences. One must plan one’s home layout paying the most attention to ‘feelings’ after budget issues are sorted out. Its the ‘Follow your heart and feel good about what you do’ concept. Some text in these books can be confusing. When they say that Chi or Prana should flow freely within your environment, this basically means that your environment must be setup in such a way that is very therapeutic and relaxing. Statements like ‘no sharp corners’ is not because it obstructs Chi in the way we think it, but because it causes bruises that affects mental peace, and that’s what they mean. It is vital that when you walk into your house you feel ‘home’; a place of endless tranquility and calmness. I’ve had the opportunity to witness my folks insist on literal meanings from these texts; only to cause a loss of Chi (love) through arguments on how to place a vase. I sincerely hope the intent of the task is not lost during the course of action. Furthermore, you can tell a person’s character by the expression in a house. It is noticeable in very subtle ways. The more pleasant the emotional experience, the more pleasant the person behind their veils. Like attracts like.

~Why does alternative therapy not work for everyone?

Is it related to my karma?~

The simple answer is Yes. Your spiritual healing can be started or accelerated by understanding and relieving your karmic debts. As per the law of attraction, every action has an equal and opposite reaction. As you sow, so shall you reap; and karmic debts are your pending actions to heal others or self from the pain of your past actions. Karmic debts can be from a current life, past life or both. Bringing closures to them with actions of love will help close these chapters and move on to spiritual enlightenment and healing. To understand your karmic debts from past lives, I’d suggest past life regression therapy from a hypnotherapist.

~How do I understand ways in which

Alternative therapies are classified?~

There are so many terms out on this subject that it gets very confusing when you first dive in. This note will help ease that confusion a bit. I’ve classified and clubbed synonyms together.

Umbrella Terminology

The following terms are synonyms and include every form of therapy that do not use conventional medical methods (allopathy):

Most Read Yesterday

A Promise!

Once upon a time, I was suicidal. But today, I look at it as the best thing that ever happened to me. That was the time I needed answers; answers to questions about the pain in my life. I started from the very bottom and questioned my entire existence. With the help of a number of sites and well written books, I managed to get many healing answers. I proved to myself how easy it was to be secured and happy within. Today I share with you summarized concepts of what I learned over the years from the very many wise that have walked this same very path. Knowledge is power & sharing is caring.

The existing content on this site will be constantly reviewed and enhanced. I track how you got to my page and what you are looking for; I use this to better the content. Please excuse the timely edits, typos and grammatical excursions if any. I believe that knowledge is like us; as we evolve, it does too. Change is the only constant.
If you wish to share your views, you can always email them to me @ evansnf [at] yahoo [dot] com.
Love & Best Wishes,
Evans